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Can Vitamins Cause an Electrolyte Imbalance?

Jul 22, 2011 | By Louise Tremblay

Your body relies on electrolytes -- small, electrochemically charged molecules -- to help maintain the fluid balance within your body, as well as the pH balance of your blood. Your bloodstream contains a number of different electrolytes, including sodium, magnesium, calcium and chloride. Defects in the levels of these electrolytes indicate an electrolyte imbalance, which can have a number of negative side effects. Over-consuming specific dietary supplements, like vitamins A or D, can increase your risk of an electrolyte imbalance.

Vitamin D and Calcium

One way that vitamin D can cause an electrolyte imbalance is through its regulation of calcium. Normally, your body regulates your blood calcium levels, ensuring that most of the calcium in your body stays within your bones and teeth, while small amounts remain in your soft tissues to promote nerve conduction and muscle contraction. Abnormally high or low vitamin D levels can alter the levels of calcium in your bloodstream, causing an electrolyte imbalance. An overdose of vitamin D can prove particularly harmful, because it causes an abundance of calcium in your bloodstream.

Vitamin A And Calcium

Consuming too much vitamin A can also lead to an electrolyte imbalance involving calcium. Vitamin A works together with vitamin D to regulate your calcium levels, so an overdose on vitamin affects vitamin D, and, as a result, affects your blood calcium levels. Specifically, the use of pharmaceutical grade all-trans retinoic acid, a form of vitamin A used to treat some forms of cancer, can cause hypercalcemia. Consuming vitamin A from foods is unlikely to cause toxicity and lead to a calcium electrolyte imbalance.

Effects of a Calcium Imbalance

Hypercalcemia -- one of the electrolyte imbalances caused by vitamin A or D toxicity -- can harm a number of your tissues and organs. Your bones begin to lose mineral density and become prone to injury, since the vitamins promote the release of calcium from bone tissue. Hypercalcemia can also lead to the deposits of calcium in other tissues throughout your body, causing calcium deposits in your cardiovascular system and in your kidneys.

Vitamin D and Magnesium

Vitamin D might also slightly alter your body's levels of magnesium, even if the effect is not sufficient to cause an electrolyte imbalance. While your body does not require vitamin D to absorb the magnesium from your food, the presence of vitamin D increases the efficacy of magnesium absorption. As a result, consuming excess vitamin D might also increase the levels of the magnesium in your system. Used in combination with other facts that increase your magnesium, like some pharmaceuticals, vitamin D might contribute to a magnesium imbalance.

References

Article reviewed by David Fisher Last updated on: Jul 22, 2011

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